Worth Every Moment
by mutantpenguins
Summary: When Winry meets some stranger at one of her father's parties, the last thing she expects is that a difficult road to love will be worth every moment of her time. Ed/Winry, based on "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.


Gate help us all, Ember's gone Ed/Winry. Yeesh. How on earth did THAT happen? Just don't expect it to happen again; normally she can't stand the pairing for some reason unknown to the world.

In any case, read and enjoy! Hopefully…

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Worth Every Moment

Winry tugged gently on the skirt of her dress as she descended the staircase. All eyes turned to her, something she had never really gotten used to. She tended to want to avoid mass attention, which was rather difficult with such a prominent doctor for a father.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and passed through the crowd, exchanging smiles and meaningless words with everyone who tried to talk to her. She didn't care about any of them, however harsh that sounded. They only cared about her because of who her father was, not because of who she was. She really couldn't respect anyone like that.

As she made her way through the room, she fully intended to stay as close to the wall as possible. She knew plenty of people would want to dance with her. It didn't matter to her; she really couldn't care less what they wanted at the moment.

Her intentions changed when she saw a new face watching her through golden eyes.

She had never seen him before, this strange man. Whoever he was, though, he was sure to be more interesting than anyone else in this room.

He was good-looking, too. He fit in nicely with a crisp black shirt and pants, long golden hair pulled into a high ponytail. However, while most of the others here merely looked refined, he looked… _sexy_.

Walking in his general direction, Winry continued talking with other people as she was expected to. It took longer than she would have liked to reach him, but if she had ignored these people her father might have suffered because of it. These people were boring, but somehow powerful.

Finally she was facing this new person. "Hello," she said politely. "I don't think I've ever seen you around here before." By which she meant she knew she never had; she had a very good memory for faces and would especially have remembered his rare golden eyes.

He laughed quietly, golden eyes twinkling with wicked mirth. "Well, you wouldn't have. Actually, technically I shouldn't be here. I snuck in on a bet," he admitted quietly. "You going to kick me out?" he asked, faking a terrified expression.

Winry laughed. "No. This is going to be the entertainment of my night, keeping someone here who shouldn't be here. It's got to be more interesting than what normally happens."

"Oh? Must be pretty boring here normally for you to say that; you look easily amused."

How he had gathered that from her appearance she would never know. However, it was true that she was rather easily amused. "Oh, by the way, I didn't catch your name."

"That would be because I didn't say it," he smiled. "It's Edward."

She smiled in return. "I'm Winry. And you're going to dance with me," she declared.

Edward's striking eyes widened. "And when was this decided?" he asked, actually appearing nervous. "Are you trying to get me caught?"

"No, you're trying to make my evening interesting. Besides, if I act like I know you people will think you should be here."

Edward still looked nervous. "But I can't dance," he muttered.

Winry couldn't help but smile. "It'll be fine," she said. "I don't dance all that well either. Just follow my lead and maybe we'll manage to hobble around the room together."

They did more than just that. Winry was convinced that Edward had lied to her and that he was a wonderful dancer. When she accused him of it, though, he simply replied, "I've never danced in my life."

Winry was puzzled. "Maybe you were a professional in another life then, or something."

They passed the night together, dancing and talking. It was one of the best times Winry had ever had at one of her father's stupid parties.

It all came to an end rather suddenly, though, as someone tapped on her shoulder.

Turning, she saw her father's face. And he did not look happy. "And who's your new friend here, Winry?" he asked in a tone that told Winry she was dead.

"Oh. Dad, this is Edward," she said nervously.

"Actually, I was just leaving," Edward stated. "Winry, it was a pleasure meeting you," he said, taking her hand and bowing.

Winry almost jumped. Was that paper he had passed her?

Edward winked. "Goodbye," he said before going through the doors.

When her father finally stopped watching every move she made, she finally dared to look at the little slip of paper Edward had slipped into her hand just before he left.

_Hey,_

_If you're reading this, don't worry. I knew I was going to get kicked out anyway; there was nothing you could have done. In any case, meet me outside in your garden when your party is over if you can._

_Edward_

Winry smiled. This was going to be a long and interesting night, but it was sure to be worth every moment. The party was almost over, and soon she'd be able to claim she wanted to walk outside for a bit as she enjoyed doing at night without raising any suspicion whatsoever.

~*~*~

Holding a lantern, Winry made her way to the garden as fast as she could without looking suspicious. She normally walked this way, so it was easy to get permission. In fact, her father had given it shortly after the party ended, so she hadn't even changed out of her party dress.

She walked a little faster. It was really late; hopefully he would still be there.

She wasn't disappointed. "So you were able to sneak away after all," Edward said as he came out of the shadow of a tree.

"Yeah. I walk here all the time, it was easy to get dad to say yes."

"Just curious, but how do you live with that kind of party? It must be boring."

"You have no idea," Winry sighed. "I only do it because it makes dad happy. If I had the choice I wouldn't be there at all. I especially wouldn't be talking to all the guys my age who think I'm just some pretty wall decoration they'd like to have." She allowed a little anger to creep into her tone; she'd had plenty of experience with THAT kind of person!

"I've never been able to understand that kind of lifestyle myself," Edward admitted. "You know, where you go through all the motions and have a family and everything, but don't really know anyone in it. If you're going to settle down with someone, shouldn't it be someone you know and love?"

"Thankfully that's how mom saw it. The only reason dad's not marrying me off to one of them right away is because he knows that mom would want me to be happy, so he's letting me have a say."

They continued to talk. Winry learned that Edward lived nearby, but wasn't anywhere close to her family in money or influence. Maybe that was why he had such an open viewpoint, one that she found herself agreeing with.

More than what was said, though, she learned that Edward was in general a good person to be around. He gave the first impression that he didn't really care what was going on, but she could tell that he was really caring, especially where his beloved little brother was concerned.

"It's strange," Winry admitted with a bit of a laugh.

"What's strange?"

"I've been talking to you for about an hour, but I know you better than I think I've ever known anyone but dad before."

Edward smirked. "Well, would you really have wanted to get to know any of those people back there? I know I wouldn't."

"You have a point."

"I always have a point."

"Whether it's right or not, huh?"

"Exactly. It doesn't mean it isn't a point. But I'm generally right about people like that; they're not worth the trouble you put into getting to know them. Far too often they're just trying to manipulate you to their advantage."

"You sound like you have experience with that."

"Yeah. I work for the Mustangs, a few houses down the way. They can be downright nasty when they want to be."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Why the shock?"

"Dad absolutely hates them," Winry said.

"I don't know many people who don't, they're not exactly held fondly in the eyes of their workers. Luckily I've got enough money to support my brother and me on my own for a while now. I'm just looking for a reason to leave."

"I hope you find one soon; it sounds like you deserve a lot better."

"Thanks. Well, you'd better get going now. It's really late, and I have to get up early tomorrow."

"All right. Goodbye," she smiled. Suddenly, acting on a whim, she leaned close to him. "By the way?" she whispered into his ear. "Your handwriting's absolutely awful." And impulsively, she did something her father would absolutely have never approved of, kissing him on the cheek before running back to her home with a huge smile on her face.

~*~*~

A year later they were both eighteen. They had kept meeting in Winry's garden, at least once a week, always at night. Winry looked forward to Ed's visits far more than her father would have liked.

Also against her father's probable wishes, she had kissed him after each of their meetings.

It wasn't anything overly passionate, just a quick peck on the cheek. Still, it was far more affection than she should have shown to him.

Then again, she felt far more affection than her father would have liked. Against his wishes she had fallen in love with someone her father wasn't likely to ever invite to one of his elite parties.

Whether her father liked it or not, though, she couldn't change how she felt. And so she kept meeting Ed and talking to him and just generally being with him.

"Oh, did I tell you your boss' son asked me to marry him today?" Winry laughed.

Ed's beautiful golden eyes widened in shock. "No, I don't think you mentioned that."

"Poor thing, he still seems to have no clue that he hasn't got a chance. I mean, Roy's nice to me and all, but I just can't see myself with him for the rest of our lives."

"Well, at least this time it's not someone roughly twice your age. The last time you told me about one of those I think I almost died prematurely of an aneurysm trying to understand how he honestly thought it would work."

"I don't pretend to understand it either."

"Well, you're eighteen now. If you don't find someone soon your father might set you up after all, like most fathers of his class do. At least Roy's only five years older." Was it just her, or did Ed seem like that was the last thing he wanted to say?

"Closeness in age or no, he could never have all of me," Winry stated.

Ed raised a single golden eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Because he can never have my heart. It's with someone else." Winry sighed inwardly. She had impulsively said too much, and now a perfectly good friendship would crumble away as if it had never existed. The balance between friends and more was so delicate, but she had definitely just stepped over the line.

Ed seemed to be unable to look at her. "And who might that be?" he asked as if the answer actually mattered a great deal to him.

Unable to speak for fear of losing him, all Winry could do was step closer and gently wrap her arms around him, hiding her face against his chest.

One of his arms wrapped around her waist and squeezed gently as the other hand found her chin and lifted her face so he could see it. "Winry?" he whispered, eyes full of hope he was clearly trying to hide.

"I love you," she said quietly. "I know it's wrong, but I do anyway."

"Well, there's something wrong with that statement," Ed said. "Love is never wrong. How could anything so wonderful be wrong?"

"You know very well that my father would never approve of this decision."

"Well, his lack of approval evidently hasn't changed your mind, so that argument has no founding." Ed sighed and pulled her even closer. "I love you too," he admitted softly.

Winry smiled as she met his warm and soft gaze briefly before kissing him again.

This time, though, was different from all the others. This time was wildly inappropriate and if her father had caught her kissing him like this he just might have killed her. She didn't care, though. If her father couldn't understand that she loved Edward, he could live with it.

When they gently pulled apart, Winry said quietly, "I should go now; it's getting late."

Ed pulled her close one last time. "I don't think I'll be coming back here for a while," he admitted.

Winry looked up, startled. "What?! Why?"

"Remember the first time we talked here, when I said that I was just waiting for a good reason to improve my current life?"

"Where are you going with this, Ed?"

"Where I'm going with this is saying I've found my reason to stop living like I am now, good for nothing but servant work."

Winry couldn't exactly say much to that. Finally she asked, "What are your plans?"

"My brother Al and I will leave for the capital tomorrow. We'll get our new life started, and then I'll come back when I can."

Winry sighed and wrapped her arms around him more tightly. "Good luck. I miss you already."

"I'll write to you if you want," Ed offered.

"Well, since my father reads all the mail we get I'm not sure how well that will—"

Ed cut her off. "Remember who you're talking to. Your personal maid used to work for the Mustangs too; she was like a mother to me. I still write to her all the time, and I'm sure she won't mind taking you a letter every now and then."

Winry smiled. "Thank you. It'd mean a lot to me."

Shortly after that they both left, knowing it would be a very long time before they saw each other again.

As Winry walked back, she was startled to find tears in her eyes. "This had better be worth every moment I spend missing you, Ed. Because there will be a lot of them," she whispered to herself.

~*~*~

Three years had passed since that last night in the garden, and Winry wasn't sure if Edward was ever coming back like he had said he would.

He had done like he'd said he wanted to and improved life for both himself and his brother. After about three months he had written her to say he had become a State Alchemist and wouldn't be able to write too often.

Actually she had heard more about him more often from the news. He had created quite a name for himself and was practically legend as the famous Fullmetal Alchemist, hero of the people.

Pulling his last letter out of the pile she still kept, she smiled at the funny symbol he had drawn on all of his letters in place of a signature before scanning the brief message once more. He had said he hoped to come back soon and see her again, but he had said nothing more than that about it. And she had received that letter three months beforehand.

Sighing, she put the letter back on top of the stack and began to walk out of the house to go outside for a while.

Before she could, though, she was caught by her maid Trisha.

She smiled in that motherly way of hers and said, "I've got something for you." Quickly she handed over a letter.

Winry flipped it open quickly and smiled. It was from Ed.

Reading it more closely, her eyes widened in shock. He said that he had come back and hoped to see her soon.

Looking up, she saw Trisha smile. "I saw him not ten minutes ago," she said. "He told me to give that to you and tell you that you'd know where to find him."

Winry didn't hear anything else. She was already running out the door.

Before long, she was in the garden.

Looking around, she didn't see anyone. Suddenly, a voice drifted down from a tree. "You know, that last picture you sent really doesn't do you justice at all."

Quickly she whirled toward the tree in question just in time to see a figure do a controlled fall out of the tree.

As soon as she registered that motion she was caught in a tight embrace.

Winry smiled. "Welcome back," she said. "It's been far too long. Next time you decide to leave, make sure it isn't three years?"

Ed chuckled. "Well, I would've come back sooner if your father wasn't so slow with his letters."

"What? I'm not following."

"Well, you see, I wrote to him admitting that I'd been talking to you for years and basically begged his forgiveness."

"You didn't."

"Actually I did. He didn't really seem to care. I think he was pretty happy that you'd gotten to know someone. Although I guess it didn't hurt that I didn't write him until about three months ago."

"I still don't get it. Why did you need to tell him that we'd known each other for that long?"

"Because that's not all I said."

"Do you mind not being all cryptic? Just spit it out. What's going on?"

"Well, I don't think spitting it out would be very flattering. Don't worry, I'm getting to the point of all this."

Winry said nothing, hoping it would prompt Ed to get on with it.

He did, even if he was still beating around the bush. "See, I asked his permission to see you without sneaking around like we used to, among other things."

"Really? And what did he say?"

"Well, apparently your father was rather eager to please, so he said yes."

Ecstatic, Winry held him tighter.

Ed feigned choking. "Mind letting me breathe here?"

Winry laughed and loosened her grip, frowning a bit when Ed took the opportunity to slip away from her a bit.

All of a sudden he looked nervous. "Now for the other part of the conversation," he muttered, seemingly to himself.

Winry's eyes widened as he dropped to one knee in front of her. "Winry, will you marry me?"

Her voice shook with emotion as she replied. "I'd love to, but my father—"

"—Has already approved. That's the other thing I asked in the letter," Ed interrupted as he slid a beautiful ring onto her finger and stood up.

Overcome with joy, Winry kissed him like she'd wanted to since she saw him come out of that tree. Ed chuckled a bit and kissed her back for a while, then pulled away. "Come on, I promised your father that I'd meet him in person. Let's not keep him waiting."

Winry let go of him, but then grabbed his hand and began walking with him to the house.

Ed walked with her like that for a while, but just before they got to the house he apparently decided he'd had enough and picked her up.

Winry gasped, laughing. "Put me down!" she demanded in between bouts of laughter.

Ed grinned. "I don't think so, I rather like this."

She was still weakly protesting when they arrived at the house and Ed walked through the door, still carrying her. "Ed!" she chastised.

All of a sudden Trisha appeared out of nowhere, grinning like an idiot.

"Hey there," Ed said casually as Winry blushed madly and attempted in vain once more to get Ed to put her down.

Trisha's grin grew wider. "So she said yes? I hoped she would, you should've seen the look on her face every time I gave her another of your letters. It was priceless; I should've taken a picture of it for you."

Ed merely smiled as Winry stared at her. "You _knew_?!"

Trisha laughed. "Of course I did, but I couldn't very well tell you. It would've spoiled the surprise; Ed just might've killed me."

"I'd have had to kill him, then, regardless of my answer. You're too sweet to kill," Winry proclaimed.

"Hey, don't go leaving me for a woman old enough to be your mother," Ed joked lightly.

Winry turned her head in his direction. "Aw, I couldn't. I've been waiting for this for three years; I don't want to put it off any longer." And placing her arms around his neck, she leaned up and kissed his cheek, forgetting temporarily about Trisha's presence.

She was soon reminded of it, though. "Sweet as this is, I really don't think you want your father seeing that. He's waiting for you in the living room. And Ed, you might want to put her down for that. I don't want you killed because you gave him the wrong impression."

Winry jumped on the opportunity to resume trying to free herself. "See?! That's what I've been telling you since you got the idea into your head to pick me up in the first place! Now that it's coming from another source, will you listen to reason?!"

Ed pretended to think about it for a while. "Well, I would say no, but since she does have a point…" And he sighed and put her down.

Before he could do anything else, though, she had flung herself back into his arms. "Thank you," she said quietly before releasing him and then leading him to the living room where her father was waiting.

As they sat and talked together, Winry looked at Ed with a smile on her face. They had come a long way since when they had first met, and it had been full of difficulties, but now it seemed worth every moment.

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Well, there you have it. Read and review, and just maybe Ember'll write some more of this pairing someday. Maybe. If the right inspiration strikes. Which may or may not happen, seeing's how she just got slammed by ANOTHER epic-length Roy/Ed idea (she's already writing one as well as another thing of epic length, even though they haven't been posted yet). We'll just have to see together.

Ember and Rags to Riches-- the mutant penguins


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